Dr Pepper goes viral for flavor intro

NEW YORK When Dr Pepper wanted to get the word out about its newly introduced flavor, it engaged True Entertainment, a production company based in New York, to craft a viral video for Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper.

The result, “Cherry Chocolate Rain,” stars Internet flavor of the month Tay Zonday, who sings the song “Chocolate Rain.”

Uploaded to the Web late last Thursday by Zonday (Adam Bahner, a musician and Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota), the video had 300,000 hits within its first 24 hours, according to Dr Pepper. By Tuesday, the number stood at more than 1 million. Directed by Jeff Tomsic at True Entertainment, the clip mimics a music video and features Zonday surrounded by dancing women, shots of cash and rapper Mistah Johnson. Spending on the video was undisclosed.

Dr Pepper and True Entertainment have worked together in the past, including last year on MTV’s “Band in a Bubble.”